


A Taste of Freedom

by Wealthywetsunny



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Body Swap, Cyberpunk Slang, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Johnny being sentimental for once, Resolving trust issues, Short & Sweet, V giving Johnny control, or would it be mind swap in this case?, very minor spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wealthywetsunny/pseuds/Wealthywetsunny
Summary: He crosses his arms over his chest defensively, looking everywhere but at her. “Don’t laugh—““No promises, asshole.”His lip twitches, like he has a hundred and one things to say to that but doesn’t have the energy to argue. “I want to know what it’s like to live again.”
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/Female V
Comments: 10
Kudos: 174





	A Taste of Freedom

The first time Johnny asked for control of her body she outright ignored him, still somehow convinced that she could be rid of him so easily, that this newfound biochip would only be a small hitch in her life. The second time he was more forceful, anger and annoyance written across his face plainly. 

There’s no escape from him, she can’t just walk out of her apartment when she’s sick of hearing his voice. But she does, just to clear her head and breathe some fresh air. 

“Wouldn’t call the smoke and pollution ‘round here ‘fresh’ but,” he shrugs, “to each their own, right?”

“What do you want?” She finally snaps, seething and practically frothing at the mouth for a little peace and quiet. 

“I told you already.” 

He had. Multiple times. And V has the sneaking suspicion that he won’t stop until she addresses this properly. So she leans against the stained brick of her apartment building, relishing in the sunlight splashed across her skin for half a second before speaking. 

“Why, Johnny? What’re you gonna make me do?”

He crosses his arms over his chest defensively, looking everywhere but at her. “Don’t laugh—“

“No promises, asshole.”

His lip twitches, like he has a hundred and one things to say to that but doesn’t have the energy to argue. “I want to know what it’s like to live again. To taste and really feel things instead of the shitty, half-assed delay that comes through your head and into mine.” He throws his hands up out of frustatration and stalks forward, “fuck, V, I just can’t stand it anymore. Fifty years stuck in cyberspace and now I’m finally able to keep track of time but I can’t do  _ anything _ trapped in your head. I just want to feel like a fucking person again.” 

It’s the most Johhny has opened up to her since they got stuck together, every emotion was masked in a charade of cynicism and wit. For a few moments she doesn’t know how to react, so she just stares, watching him fidget uncomfortably in front of her. 

“Okay.”

He looks at her impassively, gaze unwavering. Probably waiting for the catch. Which is fair, no sane person would willingly take a back seat inside their head. But honestly…

“I trust you. Dunno why I shouldn’t, I mean we both know what’ll happen if you fuck things up and get us killed. So yeah, go ahead.”

Johnny takes a step forward, hand reaching out as if to touch her, but he stops midway. Fingers twitching uneasily. “How do you know I’ll give you back control?”

She doesn’t, she wants to say, this is a gamble for her life. But after the conversation they had last week about Arasaka and Mikoshi, she knows where he stands on the relic eating away at her brain. They agreed the worst thing you can do to a person is steal their identity, completely altering their sense of self to the point where they're not even aware it’s happening. Johnny is going to do right by her, he wouldn’t be any better than Arasaka if he stole her consciousness.

She tells him so and watches a small smile appear on his face for a brief flash of a moment.

“Well, ya got me there, V.”At last he closes the gap between them, his hands coming to cup her cheeks on either side, the contrast between flesh and metal making her shiver. “Okay, ready?”

“Mhm.” Then quickly after, when she panics, “do you know what you’re doing?”

“More or less.”

His eyes snap closed and it only makes sense to follow suit, shutting out her other senses as she focuses solely on the feeling of him probing around inside her head. It’s terribly invasive, has her cringing at the violation of it all, to have him rearrange her neurons to slot himself in where she once was. Gently nudging her away until she’s just a passive observer from outside her body. 

*****

He could get used to this, the drunken power of finally being in control. A dangerous feeling, sure, but he doesn’t have any malicious thoughts floating through his head, he had been honest on that front with V, he’s going to live a little while he has the chance. Before V eventually gets rid of him and he’s back to being data on a biochip, given to the highest paying corpo.

He looks down and moves his hands, her hands technically, getting used to the limbs she has and the abhorrent lack of chrome. He used to hate his ‘borg arm, now though it’s more normal than flesh and bones. 

“Stop critiquing my body, jackass.”

Johnny jumps, looking around to find her. But no ones there, it’s just him and a voice inside his head. 

“Can’t figure out how to make myself appear like you did, this whole thing is trippy. Doesn’t matter. Go ‘head, Johnny, explore, just don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m gonna go fuck someone,” he says in her voice but with his crude language, “it’s been a while.”

“Johnny!”

“I’m joking.”

He feels her distaste. She doesn’t believe him, which is fair, with his history he wouldn’t believe a guy like him either. 

“I am. No, I’ve got a better idea. C’mon.”

Driving is an experience he never thought he’d ever have to relearn. The car’s inner workings are different after fifty years, no real surprise there, it was one of the first things he noticed being with V. But he hadn’t watched close enough to learn. He just went slow, tried not to destroy her already fragile reputation by making it a habit to run over unsuspecting pedestrians. 

His parking is haphazard and sloppy, and when he climbs out of the car someone cusses him out. He just shrugs and throws up a middle finger. A smile curling his lips up when he hears V’s resounding laugh.

Then she spots where he’s taken them and snorts.

“A diner? Really, this is what you wanted to see?”

“Not see.  _ Taste.  _ Dear god, V, I miss tasting things. Is that weird?”

“I’ve got Johnny Silverhand’s construct in my head, I don’t think I can properly judge what’s weird anymore.”

The food he orders and the drinks he downs in quick succession are like pure heaven on his tongue. The feeling of sugar making his energy rise and the flood of endorphins that has him smiling are things he had missed so dearly.

If anything it fuels his anger towards Arasaka, what was done to him should be illegal. Someone should pay for taking these sorts of privileges away without any remorse for how he’d suffer.

“Calm down, Johnny,” V soothes from somewhere deep inside his head.

“No, fuck, V this is so  _ wrong _ . One of us is gonna get the short end of the stick being nothing more than a piece of code. Or we’re both gonna die and just stop existing, fuck, that might be a better alternative, just go out in a blaze of glory.”

He hears the dry click of her throat when she swallows next. He feels how nervous she is. He’s scaring her.

“Think I’d like my body back now, Johnny.”

He sighs noisily and slides out of the booth, hands shaking when he steps outside. He rubs at his eyes, trying to take a few deep breaths before she tries anything rash. With their combined lack of knowledge she would try taking control and end up frying her brain.

“One more thing.” He pauses when she doesn’t answer right away. “Please, V.” There must be the right amount of whine in his voice because she relents, pity seeping into her veins and thus into his.

“One more thing, then you’re done.”

And just like that he’s got a smile back on his face. “Fucking preem.” 

*****

Getting high off of something stronger than nicotine feels like coming home. He wouldn’t frequent the hardcore shit when he was alive but it’s hard not to at least try it. It was the scene he was in. He was in the limelight and so people invited him to parties and at those parties he got up to some...unsavory things. 

But the drug he's using now is far more advanced than what they had in his time. 

He parked his ass down outside some concert hall. Just close enough that he can hear the music floating outside. Hell, he can practically  _ feel  _ the music. And just like that he’s itching for a chance to play again.

There’s gotta be a shop around somewhere with a nice, affordable guitar for sale. It doesn’t take long with V guiding him, reaching out to talk once more, knowing his thoughts and intentions intimately. 

“Thanks, V.” Feeling the weight of it in his hands is distracting, so for a second he tunes out whatever it is she’s saying, more intent on sliding into his role, plucking strings like it’s second nature. 

He doesn’t miss the way she pays attention as if afraid she’ll miss something—even if it’s just them two holed up back in her apartment. 

“You’re really good.”

The compliment makes his cheeks flush, unused to them after so long, but he accepts it all the same. “Yeah,” he clears his throat, fingers pulling out the last tune and coming to rest on the cheap wood. “It’s what I got paid to do.”

“Mhm. Ready to switch?”

_ No. Far from it.  _ He closes his eyes and cringes, fully aware that his thoughts passed through her head as well. She knows how painful it is for him, but he’ll do it anyway, for her. If anything she’ll trust him a tad more, she’s starting to see that he’s not as terrible as the rumors made him out to be, Johnny Silverhand actually has a heart. 

“Okay. Yeah, just...can we do this again sometime?”

“‘Course, rocker boy, it’d be a shame for this to be the last time I get to hear talent like that.”


End file.
